I refer to the letter We're not heating up the Earth, the Sun is!

Albert Einstien: ‘Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.’

This letter is an obvious response to the above letter. I find the writer's letter to be highly ignorant and irresponsible, as it merely served to further confuse people who have little understanding of the science behind global warming and climate change, and only further hampers efforts to encourage Malaysians to be more responsible and proactive in tackling climate change - an already uphill task for a society plagued by the tidak apa attitude we are so famous for.

It is obvious, however, that the writer clearly has no knowledge or understanding on the matter as he makes his conclusions based on skepticism, a lack of understanding and what he terms to be 'common sense'.

Before I proceed, I wish to point out to the writer that common sense is far from common and is often not at all sensible. This is because it is subject to the individual's perceptions and knowledge.

Consider this: common sense told us that the Earth was flat, and is at the centre of the universe, that heavy objects fall faster than lighter ones, that the moon is so high up in the sky (as opposed to outside our planet) that it is impossible to get there. Yet today, we know all of these 'facts' to be false, having been disproved by science.

As one person, it is more than fair to say that we cannot effect significant change on our planet, but what the writer forgets is that our collective actions are much bigger than the individual human scale. Humans today can flatten mountains, fill lakes, move rivers and even make entire cities disappear in the blink of an eye.

With every generation since the scientific revolution, we have increased the reach and scope of our abilities and power. If we believe that we can destroy the entire world 10 times over with all the nuclear arsenal in our hands, why is it so hard to believe that we have the ability to change the climate of the whole planet?

The writer's reasoning that the sun is the cause of the Earth's warming is fundamentally flawed for several reasons:

1. Data by Nasa tells us that the average solar output has not changed very much in the last 30 years, so the Sun cannot possibly be the cause of the overall warming trend we have experienced since 1950

2. The writer is clearly unaware of the role played by the atmosphere in determining our climate. Throughout history there have been Ice Ages, and periods of extreme heat, all of which were caused, sustained and eventually overcome due to changes in our atmosphere.

I humbly suggest that the writer go onto Wikipedia and read about the Greenhouse Effect which is the mechanism which regulates the flow of heat in and out of our planet. In a nutshell, our atmosphere traps some of the heat from the sun, giving us our climate.

Certain gasses such as CO2, methane, CFCs, and ammonia are more effective in trapping the heat, hence they are known as ‘greenhouse gasses’. Significantly changing the composition of these gasses affects the amount of heat trapped by the atmosphere

Again I’d like to remind you that our collective actions have an effect much larger than the individual human scale. Sikit sikit lama-lama jadi bukit.

Put all the greenhouse gasses from the millions of cars, factories, power plants, airplanes, etc together with deforestation and even common sense tells us that it all starts to add up.

So I’d like to humbly suggest that the writer watch the film 'An inconvenient truth' by Al Gore which is meant to explain the whole issue to the ordinary person who has no scientific background.

Albert Einstien once said that ‘Great ideas often receive violent opposition from mediocre minds’.

I’m certain that if you watch the film, and study further about the issue with an open mind and an open heart, you, too, will be convinced that global warming and climate change is caused by mankind's reckless destruction and not by the sun, propaganda or conspiracy theorists.